“so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body,”
When we were children, we played with toys, and when we were small, we never tired of playing. Never do I recall going to bed, sad that tomorrow was a play day. In fact, I remember as a child counting my blessings that tomorrow was a play day, then another one, and another, and . . .
Day after day, my siblings and I never tired of playing.
So, when our family faced financial hazard and we needed to work rather than play each day, my beautiful parents had a distinct way of making work seem even playful. That’s right; I grew up from eleven onward—working but feeling as if I was playing at the same time.
- When my parents took us out to gather corn by hand, we sang songs made up by mom.
- When my parents led us to herd cattle, chase pigs, butcher chickens, and raise tobacco, we always worked together as a family, laughing together, even when the work was tiring.
Let me provide a concrete example that will help explain this whole ‘work’ idea better, but first, let’s see what God has to say about playfully working doing His deeds throughout our lives.
“Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
(The Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 5: 9-10 NASB)
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body,
according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
- When my parents took us out to mow lawns within our small town, we always met such interesting individuals with great stories to tell.
- Then, later, when my parents led us to take on the mowing of a five-acre community cemetery, we always packed a picnic lunch to enjoy under our favorite tree.
So, as I pushed my mower through those rows upon rows of tombstones, oftentimes, I wondered about those people I had to walk across where their bodies had been laid to rest: ‘Did they accomplish the tasks, the work, the Lord wanted them to do?’
Now at that time in my life, I was not yet a Christian, but my parents were faithful to take us to church each week, so I was taught right from wrong (God’s right from God’s wrong).
People upon people return to dust each year within cemeteries: my ancestors and yours, our friends and even those we will never know this side of eternity.
Did they work “so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body,”?
Pause to consider the significance of the statement: “so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, . . .”?
It is a truth (the Bible says so) that we are appointed a certain number of days to live & then comes our eternity.
This should be our prayer today & tomorrow & every morrow until our last day on earth—
Lord, help us follow You wholeheartedly, doing Your will, working Your way—for the rest of our days.
Way back when God created the world, Our Father worked six days creating every amazing thing this universe has to offer. Then, on the seventh day, God rested from His work. I believe each one of us would agree that on one of those six days of work, He thought to fashion man from the very dust of the earth.
Then God placed that first man in the garden. What a beautiful place to put the first man, in a garden where he could see the fruit of his labor daily.
Now that first man was just like us, and God knew he did not need to be idle (you know the whole idle hands=the devil’s workshop), so God gave that first man a task: Adam had to name the animals. Still to this day, I don’t exactly know where Adam came up with the word hippopotamus? & how in the world did Adam ever know how to spell that great big word?
This relates to me because I am in the process of learning the foreign language: Dutch, and some words in English sound and spell similar to words in Dutch, but others are quite unique in sound and spelling.
SOME OF THE SIMILAR ONES—
- Elephant—Oliphant
- Okay—Oke’
- Sorry—Sorry
- Cat & Dog—Kat & Hond
- Menu—Menu
SOME OF THE UNIQUE ONES—
- Tree—Boom
- Animals—Huisdieren
- Please—Alsjeblief
- Brothers & Sisters—Jongens & Meisjes
- Slaap—Sleep
- Slaap Lekker—Sleep Well
To challenge myself even further, I went online and purchased a Bible in Dutch (New Testament only). Now, let me tell you, it’s difficult to learn a language at age fifty-seven, and it’s even tougher to read the Word of God in a language other than your own, but I am determined to do my best.
- Why, you may ask, would I strive to learn a language only spoken in two small countries (The Netherlands & Belgium)? &
- Why would I strive to read the Word of God in that foreign language?
The answer is simple: LOVE, IT IS THE REASON.
I LOVE THE PERSON WHO WALKED INTO MY WORLD SEVEN YEARS AGO!
SHE WILL ALWAYS SPEAK HER HEART LANGUAGE: DUTCH.
SO, WHY WOULD I NOT ATTEMPT TO SPEAK HER HEART LANGUAGE TOO?
- My English-speaking daughter and I read the Bible together from the time she was a child, and I am so excited that still to this day, she continues to read & study God’s Word on her own.
- My Dutch-speaking daughter and I are currently reading one book from the Bible—The Gospel According to John. We have been reading it in English, and even though her English is strong, let me say, it’s been a slow-go trying to read these chapters within this one book of the Bible.
We have read & discussed three and a half chapters in just over one and half years. At this rate, I may die before we finish. So, if I can learn to read the Bible—The Gospel According to John in her heart language, in Dutch, then maybe we will speed along at a better pace. Who knows, maybe I will even be able to persuade her to read with me the other sixty-five books of the Bible.
This task has been hard work, but it’s proving to be a good work.
I am so excited the work I will be able to accomplish as I read The Gospel According to John in Dutch. Now that God has led me to have back surgery and I cannot drive (my favorite pastime), maybe I will study my Dutch words even more.
In life, we each have deeds that the Lord gives to us to do! &
Whether we accomplish them as He instructs us makes all the difference in the world.
- God gave Adam work to do in the Garden of Eden.
- God gave Abraham work to do in the Promise Land.
- God gave Moses & Aaron work to do in the land of Egypt.
- Jesus gave Rahab work to do as she hid the two spies.
- God gave Joshua work to do in the city of Jericho.
- God gave Esther work to do in Persia.
- God gave Jesus Christ, the Son of God, work to do throughout the years He walked as the son of man upon the earth.
- Through Jesus, God gave the disciples work to do as they spread the Gospel across the known world.
- Jesus gave Mary & Martha work to do in Bethany where they lived with their brother Lazarus.
- Jesus gave Paul work to do on each of his three missionary journeys.
Our Father gives His children work to do.
- How are we doing with the work He has given us to do?
- Do we know the work He has for us to do?
The apostle Paul encouraged us to know, to examine our work each day we live because one day (sooner rather than later), we will each stand before the judgment throne of God to be recompensed for the deeds we have done while we lived in this earthly body.
God is at work, perhaps more today than any other time.
He is at work in churches, in communities, in workplaces, & in every place a child of God walks.
Let us “also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.”